[Weekly funding roundup Aug 5-11] VC inflow revives after historic drop

The second week of August turned out a little more positive in terms of venture capital (VC) inflow to Indian startups after funding touched one of the lowest points in the comparable previous week.

The total venture funding raised by startups in the second week came in at $95 million cutting across 11 deals. In comparison, the previous week dropped to a historic low of $11 million.

This comes as welcome relief for the Indian startup ecosystem though there is a note of caution as the funding inflow in the current week largely got a boost from just two transactions.

The lower VC funding amount being raised by Indian startups on a weekly basis is a reflection of the challenges faced by the ecosystem where the investors are still sitting on the sidelines and not willing to open the tap of capital.

At the same time, there were positive developments for the Indian startups as two entities revealed intentions of putting more money into these ventures.

Zerodha's Rainmatter Capital announced that it would expand the corpus investment into startups. CEO Nithin Kamath said that the entity will be investing Rs 1,000 in Indian startups.

Similarly, South Korean gaming company Krafton said it plans to invest $150 million over the next two to three years to boost India's gaming and startup ecosystem.

The present environment has also resulted in startups focusing on building sustainable businesses without burning excessive amounts of cash and this was reflected in the financial performance of companies like PolicyBazaar and MobiKwik. These are certainly positive outcomes.

Key transactions

Debt collections SaaS platform Credgenics raised $50 million from WestBridge Capital, Accel, Tanglin Venture Partners and Beams FinTech Fund.

SaaS startup Disprz raised $30 million from Lumos Capital, 360 ONE Asset, Kae Capital, KOIS, and Dallas Venture Capital.

Fintech startup Stable Money raised $5 million from Matrix Partners India, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Titan Capital, Mar Shot Ventures, and angel investors.